Pophouse Entertainment’s Jon Spalding on the power of emotional immersive experiences

Jon, you’ve been with Pophouse a year now. How’s it been?
It’s been an incredible ride. I’m working in an exciting industry that I love. Pophouse is a unique company with a pioneering new approach to music artists. We take iconic music artists – like KISS and Cyndi Lauper – and introduce them to new audiences through the power of storytelling…

We’re celebrating 50 years of the KISS legacy with a number of high-profile projects. We’re growing our portfolio of artists and meeting new partners, talking about how to push boundaries together.

One such partnership is with fashion house Dsquared2… They’re launching a KISS collection later this year. Why does that collaboration make sense for KISS?
Our ambition is to build long-term content roadmaps and ‘Universes’ for our artists. As we build our KISS Universe, we’re ‘phasing’ our approach… Phase One is rewarding fans and finding new audiences by embracing the storytelling and legacy of KISS. Dsquared2 is a perfect partner for this because they make very cool, elevated streetwear with a rock ’n’ roll edge. The collection launches later this year. We’re very excited.

And Phase Two?
Phase Two builds towards 2027 and the priority project, KISS Avatar Show in Las Vegas. Along the way, we’re planning the first KISS biopic, as well as documentaries, podcasts and gaming. There are key opportunities in fashion, lifestyle, toys and collectibles… Sport and entertainment partnerships are other areas of interest. Also, we recently activated a partnership with Montreal Canadiens – the national hockey team – on a KISS-themed night. That was a huge success!

What steers how you can unlock these bands and artists in live experiences?
A good example for us is ABBA Voyage. The tech is pioneering and state-of-the-art. The thing that makes ABBA Voyage so special, however, is the emotional connection. It’s the same with Mamma Mia! The Party, a Pophouse production – and also what will make the KISS show that we’re developing – special. It’s very emotional, we’re pushing boundaries, we want to show people things they’ve never seen. But storytelling is key.

How will the KISS Avatar Show differ from ABBA Voyage?
There’s an opportunity to do something with KISS that mixes an authentic concert-going experience with a something like a Star Wars movie and a Cirque Du Soli show… Mixing reality and fantasy in a way that hasn’t been done before. We ask ourselves: what would be the greatest KISS concert? That’s our starting point.